Waterloo Canal Heritage Day This Saturday, Aug. 6, at Nearby Waterloo Village

Monday, August 1st, 2016

HISTORIC VILLAGE WAS A MORRIS CANAL TOWN IN 19TH CENTURY — JUST A SHORT DRIVE FROM MORRIS COUNTY

The Canal Society of New Jersey, in concert with the New Jersey DEP, is continuing its Waterloo Canal Heritage Days series this Saturday, Aug. 6, offering Morris County visitors to nearby Waterloo Village in Sussex County a glimpse of the region’s early days – as part of an every other Saturdays series this summer and early fall.

Waterloo Blacksmiths

The programs, which are altered a bit on each of the Heritage Days Saturdays, include hands-on history programs, a taste of original music, plus a narrated boat ride on the historic Morris Canal.

On this Saturday, Aug. 6, eight of the village’s historic buildings will be open, and historic trades and crafts will be demonstrated at the gristmill, and carpentry, seamstress and blacksmith shops.

There also will be music provided by the Long Hill String Band.

Once a bustling inland port on the Morris Canal, Waterloo retains its character as a 19th Century canal town. Since 2007, the Canal Society has gradually opened industrial and commercial buildings to interpret trades that were common throughout the 19th Century.

Waterloo Village is managed by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry within the state Department of Environmental Protection and is located in Allamuchy Mountain State Park.

DEP’s Division of Parks and Forestry assumed stewardship of the Village in 2007 after the Waterloo Arts Foundation, which had leased the Village from the state for about 40 years, went bankrupt.

DEP has committed more than $600,000 to the Village’s restoration as part of its Sustainable Park Plan, an initiative designed to keep historic sites and state parks open by expanding programming and events to attract more residents and revenue. DEP has worked with The Canal Society of New Jersey, Friends of Waterloo, and Winakung at Waterloo to support the Village and its programming.

The following is a look at this Saturday’s planned events:

HISTORIC TRADES:

Richard & Richard Brusco, metallurgist and blacksmiths from Brookside (Mendham), will be working in the blacksmith’s shop. They will alternate between hammering red-hot metal and interpreting the process.

Sharon Kuechelmann will demonstrate her skills in a 19th century seamstress shop using a vintage treadle sewing machine to create authentic period garments.

Bill Pegg and Rolf Warncke have set up a carpentry shop in the Peter D. Smith Carriage House, where they will be working on projects of all kinds.

John Holochwost, tinsmith, will demonstrating his skills as he uses simple tools to make useful articles.

THE VILLAGE:

A narrated boat ride on the historic Morris Canal will be offered continuously in the late morning and throughout the afternoon. Other buildings open are: Smith’s Store (fully stocked general store), Smith Brothers Gristmill milling by water-power, the Rutan Cabin, the Canal Museum of New Jersey, and other exhibits.

LIVE MUSIC :

– The Long Hill String Band is back at Waterloo this season with their own special brand of traditional music.

The 90-mile-long Morris Canal was an option to roads for transporting commercial goods in the early to mid-1800s.

It left the Delaware River at Phillipsburg and made its way upwards until reaching its zenith at Lake Hopatcong, where it gradually dropped down to tidal level at its terminus in Newark.

It passed through what is now Waterloo Village, which was a 19th-century canal town.

Waterloo Village Heritage Days run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. They are scheduled for Saturdays Aug. 6, Aug. 27, Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 8, and Oct. 22.

For GPS: Waterloo Village is located on Waterloo Road, Stanhope, N.J. 07874. Use Exit 25 on Interstate 80. It is three miles from exit 25.